Despite multiple rain delays, the No. 12 Oregon softball team secured its third-consecutive Pacific-10 Conference series win by defeating No. 10 Stanford, 4-2, Sunday afternoon at Howe Field.
The Ducks (37-13, 9-9 Pac-10) used a pair of two-run home runs off the bats of junior right fielder Christie Nieto and freshman catcher Alexa Peterson, and a third strong outing of the weekend from sophomore ace Jessica Moore to seal their seventh victory in nine outings. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205148596@@
Senior lefthander Brittany Rumfelt got the start for Oregon, but ran into trouble in the top of the third and was pulled in favor of junior Samantha Skillingstad. Despite getting a strikeout to end the frame, Skillingstad was replaced in the top of the fourth after giving up back-to-back singles to Sarah Hassman and Ashley Hansen. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/416090.htm?ATCLID=205148596&SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
From there, Moore took over and struck out five of the next seven batters she faced en route to her 20^th victory of the season.
“She showed how strong she was (Sunday),” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “I don’t think there was much drop in her velocity, she made tough pitches, and she’s a tough competitor out there. You’ve got to give her credit.”
At the plate, Oregon left three runners stranded in the bottom of the first, before Nieto smacked her sixth home run of the year over the left centerfield fence to drive in Peterson, who singled to start the inning.
After that at-bat, Stanford starter Teagan Gerhart (21-9) retired 10 straight batters before Ducks shortstop Kelsey Chambers walked in the bottom of the fifth. A five-minute rain delay followed midway through the sixth inning, before Peterson extended Oregon’s lead to 4-1 with a two-run blast of her own.
Moore gave up her only run in the top of the seventh when Hassman hit a blooper over sophomore Kaylan Howard’s head at second base, which scored Caitlyn Pura to give Stanford its second run of the game.
Yet, with two runners on and the go-ahead run at the plate in Hansen — an All-American and member of the USA National Team — Moore got the ground ball she needed to seal the Oregon victory.
“Just got to go right at her,” Moore said of her approach to the last at-bat. “Nobody’s perfect, she’s not going to get a hit or whatever every time, so just got to go at her and pray for the best.”
In 3 2/3 innings of work, Moore struck out six, walked three and allowed one unearned run.
“She just did amazing hitting her corners,” Peterson said. “My hand, I need to go ice this thing again. It’s bruised up after this weekend.”
Saturday
Game two belonged to Moore, as well, who started back-to-back games for the first time in Pac-10 play this season. The Sutter, Calif., native tossed her fifth shutout that ended a skid of 10 straight losses to Stanford. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205148166@@
Oregon scored single runs in the first and third innings off Cardinal starter Ashley Chinn (16-4), which proved to be enough support for Moore, who finished with eight strikeouts, one walk and scattered five hits in the complete-game effort. @@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/415964.htm?ATCLID=205148166&SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
Senior first baseman Monique Fuiava paced Oregon offensively with a 2-for-3 outing, while five other Ducks hit safely on the day.
Friday
Following a two-hour pregame rain delay, an error-plagued opener on Friday put the Ducks in an early hole and gave Gerhart enough breathing room to escape with a 4-1 victory.
With a season-high five errors defensively — and a career-high 14 strikeouts from Gerhart, which helped the Cardinal win their fifth game in six outings — Stanford scored a pair of runs in the final two innings to seal the victory. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4374&SPID=245&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205147869@@
Oregon jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Fuiava smacked an RBI triple that scored Samantha Pappas from first base. Moore was tagged with the loss, however, despite throwing five innings of shutout softball.
The Ducks will return to action Thursday night when they host UCLA for a three-game series. That game is scheduled for 6 p.m.